ED in Namibia for Sadc heads of state summit

Takunda Maodza, Harare Bureau
President Mnangagwa arrived in Windhoek, Namibia, yesterday for the Sadc 38th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government.

He was welcomed at the Hosea Kutako International Airport by Ministers Patrick Chinamasa (Finance), Sibusiso Moyo (Foreign Affairs and International Trade) and Mike Bimha (Industry and Commerce), who were already here for preparatory meetings for the Sadc summit.

On leaving Harare yesterday, President Mnangagwa was seen off at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport by Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, as well as Cabinet Ministers Perrance Shiri and Oppah Muchinguri.

VP Chiwenga is Acting President.

The two-day summit is running under the theme: “Promoting Infrastructure Development and Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development”.
Zimbabwe is not on the Sadc agenda, with the region, in fact, congratulating the nation for holding peaceful, fair and credible polls on July 30, according to Minister Moyo.

“We took the opportunity to update Sadc about the elections which took place in Zimbabwe which were successful,” he said. “Zimbabwe is not on the agenda. In fact, this has been an unprecedented kind of election which was peaceful, fair and transparent except for futuristic issues.” said Minister Moyo.

Sadc has been seized with the industrialisation agenda for its past four summits.

The industrialisation discourse is traceable to the Sadc summit held in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 2014 themed “Economic Transformation and Sustainable Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition”.

Namibian President Hage Geingob takes over leadership of the regional bloc from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the summit.

Some countries in the region have initiated billion-dollar infrastructure development projects expected to spur industrialisation and economic development.

Such projects include the US$259 million Kazungula rail and road bridge whose construction involve neighbours Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Construction of the bridge boosts regional integration.

A number of key infrastructural projects cutting across geographical boundaries are also under way in the Sadc region.

Zimbabwe and Botswana are in talks over construction of a railway line linking the two countries to Mozambique, a project that has been in the pipeline for a long time.